Multi-Sectoral Approach Needed to Address Peace in North Rift Region

As we celebrate the International Day of Innocent Children Victims of Violent Aggression, we need to reflect, how as a country we are doing, by the fact that a continuous unending conflict pitting communities in three counties of Pokot, Baringo and Marakwet is doing to the children in those areas.

Children are disproportionately affected by violent conflict, which disrupts their right to be children including education nutrition and security. Conflicts, especially in Kenya, tend to be exercabated by politics including negative ethnicity, despite having one of the most progressive constitutions in the world. As a country we have come to be too comfortable with the idea that some regions with be we risk areas and even plan development projects with that mind set. Instead of addressing the security concerns, we have standardized regions according to the level of risk they potent. Until mass murder occurs that is when we will see state actors converge for some media opportunity to lash and issue threats and after some time the violence cycle repeats itself all over again.

Ministry of interior, on which the security docket falls, received the highest budget allocation in the just read Kenya 2019-2020 budget. The security docket, budget allocation has been increasingly been receiving some good receiving some amounts from the National Exchequer, year in year out, to but still security issues have been lagging behind for quite sometime now. Its maybe we take a multi-sectoral approach, which will guarantee some very tangible, long lasting peace in the conflict prone regions of Kenya.

The issue of peace agreement will only work, to the extent of involving whole communities and note elders alone in the process. Young people and elder only power to a certain extent perpetrate violent conflicts. Education will and can shift real power and offer some very quick and tangible to stopping violent conflicts and allow restorative justice to take its course. Also, some awareness campaign can go along way to assist communities map their resources so as to develop strategic plans on their utilization for the benefit of the communities.

Violent conflicts in the North Rift region can be a thing of the past if only both the state and non-state actors work with and not for communities to ensure that more so children and women are not affected by acts of conflict which lead to physical, mental and emotional abuse.

Raymond Obare

Resilience, Knowledge Management, Communications Officer

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Multi-Sectoral Approach Needed to Address Peace in North Rift Region